Su Qi thought that his nephew's first time going out to search was incredibly lucky in an absurd way.
He kept picking things up, but they were all low-grade items.
Still, accumulating so much could sell for a good price.
Su Lin gritted his teeth, struggling to carry a thick snakeskin bag, panting as he asked:
"Uncle, how much can we sell these for?"
Seeing his nephew so weak, Su Qi shook his head helplessly, took the bag with ease, and replied:
"Selling them directly, they're worth around three hundred Copper Coins. If you process them yourself with a dismantling table before selling, the price can increase by fifty to sixty percent."
Since the advent of the apocalyptic rules, the surviving humans used the currency that came with the rules: Gold, Silver, and Copper Coins.
1 Silver Coin is approximately equal to one thousand Copper Coins, the exchange rate with Gold is roughly similar.
"So that's around four hundred Copper, right?" Su Lin calculated in his mind, then asked, "Is that enough for the contribution materials?"
If it's not enough... I wonder if I can borrow a bit from Uncle.
Hearing this, Su Qi stopped walking, frowned, looked back, and instead of answering, he questioned:
"Why are you asking this?"
Su Lin honestly admitted:
"Someone knocked on my door before, urging me to hand over the materials. They said if I didn't, they'd dissolve Su Tongxi's tenant status and make her leave."
Su Qi's face instantly turned grim, and he cursed outright: "Those damn maggots!"
In this situation, as long as Su Lin wasn't stupid, he could sense something was off.
He quickly pursued, asking:
"Uncle, is there a problem?"
"Problem? Of course, there's a problem!"
Su Qi's square face flushed red, his anger apparent, "The Night of Survival just ended, how dare they come to you for materials?! Your parents just perished in the Night of Survival, what are they trying to do? Devour the Su Family completely?!"
After shouting angrily, he turned to Su Lin, speaking in a deep voice:
"You don't worry about this, tell your grandfather, let him handle it. Do they dare think our Su Family is defenseless? Hmph!"
He paused, then asked: "Who was it that came to collect the materials?"
After hearing his uncle's words, jam-packed with information, Su Lin fell into thought, realizing that his family might have some power after all?
That damn good-for-nothing body before, always muddle-headed about everything, especially after the apocalypse, just indulging in himself, barely paying attention to Uncle or Grandpa, not to mention his parents.
Truly useless!
While pondering, he heard his uncle's question and answered instinctively:
"Two men. One looked gentle, with fair skin, dressed neatly without patches. The other looked fierce, with reddish-brown skin, a strong build, and a bandage on his face."
"Heh." Uncle sneered after hearing it, "Alright, I know who they are."
He understood his nephew's ignorance of the world and didn't find it odd that he didn't recognize people.
This uncle understands his nephew; in Su Lin's fragmented past memories, he couldn't recall the names of these two men, just found them somewhat familiar.
It's really hard to maintain.
How many people are there in the whole village? That young man with fair skin clearly lives a pampered life, in fact, just like the former self, doesn't everyone say like attracts like? Yet he didn't recognize them.
After speaking, Uncle fell into silence again.
Since his son's death two years ago, his temperament had become exceptionally gloomy.
If not for Su Lin showing signs of turning over a new leaf recently, he wouldn't even bother speaking a word to this nephew.
"Cough, cough..." Uncle suddenly covered his mouth and coughed twice.
Su Lin looked over and seemed to see a hint of red on his uncle's hand covering his mouth.
But on closer look, it wasn't there.
His uncle glanced at him, coldly saying: "Why are you slacking? Keep searching."
"Oh, oh." Su Lin responded repeatedly, once again looking around for "garbage" to pick up.
...
Walking and stopping intermittently.
The two of them scavenged for everything they could find.
Since Su Lin was a drag, unable to lift or carry anything, Su Qi only took him around the outskirts, searching near the village.
But precisely because of this, Su Qi was even more startled.
The outskirts had long been scavenged thrice over, yet Su Lin could still find a large pile of things from all sorts of unbelievable nooks and crannies.
To this, Su Qi could only attribute it to the newly refreshed, unusual materials due to the rules of the apocalypse just after the Night of Survival.
His nephew's luck was indeed quite good.
At this moment, although Su Lin was exhausted to the point of spitting blood, he was in quite a good mood.
The term "King of the Garbage Can" seemed unremarkable, but the tenfold "garbage picking" luck was extremely practical for him right now.
Not attracting attention, yet getting rich silently.
Although they were all junk.
But accumulate a little, and the things in these large bags added up to almost seven or eight hundred Copper!
Enough for him to enjoy a nice meal of braised pork.
Or be a bit frugal and support for half a month with Su Tongxi.
"If I have such a harvest every day, eating meat at every meal wouldn't be a problem! As long as I can survive, I can completely improve this poverty-stricken life."
"Besides, I've haven't tried the effect of making things with these low-grade materials, I feel that's the key to the 'King of the Garbage Can' term!"
Su Lin thought to himself.
We'll try it when we get home later.
Hopefully, it will resolve the crisis of the monster attack tonight!
...
The two of them were busy all morning and found a lot of supplies again.
Su Qi was already numb. They found a lot, but it was all low-grade stuff. In his three years in the apocalypse, it was the first time he had seen such a situation.
Two words:
Ridiculous!
Su Lin was at the point where he couldn't walk any further, barely holding on with sheer willpower, clenching his teeth and following Su Qi.
But he was still gritting his teeth and pushing through.
Damn it! If you don't sweat when it's safe, you'll have to cross over again when danger comes!
Although Su Lin was lazy and indifferent, he was afraid of pain and death.
Moreover, he still wanted to lose his virginity in this lifetime and taste the sweetness of his soft and pretty little fiancée. He didn't want to be reincarnated so soon.
Su Tongxi, such a pure and beautiful little JK, back in the day, just stealing a few extra glances would get you charged with harassment.
Su Lin's breathing was heavy, and he was starting to feel dizzy.
Su Qi kept an eye on his condition and, seeing him push to his limits without giving up, nodded in approval, quite satisfied, even amazed at his change.
He hadn't uttered a single complaint and kept up with the work!
"Alright, that's enough, let's head back." Su Qi said.
Su Lin immediately felt a weight lifted off his shoulders, sweating profusely like rain.
The uncle and nephew carried their bags full of supplies towards the village entrance.
On the way, they ran into a group of people, and a voice called out:
"Su Qi? Didn't you say you were taking a rest today, staying at home to take care of the old man?"
Su Lin didn't even turn his head, quickly stopped to catch his breath and recover his strength.
Su Qi turned to look, his face instantly turned cold, but the next moment, he suddenly pulled a smile and said sarcastically:
"Haven't the village's rules for collecting contribution supplies changed? If I don't hurry out to find something, I'm afraid someone might come after us. Captain Chang, are you here to inform me to hand over supplies?"
"Hand over supplies?"
The person was Chang Sanheng, the captain of Search Team 1.
The village's Hunting Group had two teams.
Previously, Su Lin's father, Su Ming, was the vice-captain of Search Team 2.
Upon hearing this, Chang Sanheng furrowed his eyebrows, "What are you talking about?"
The smile on Su Qi's face vanished instantly, and he replied coldly:
"Ask your son about it! At the beginning of the month, he went to my nephew's house and threatened that if we didn't hand over the supplies, he would force my nephew to revoke the tenancy of my nephew's wife and evict her!"
He raised his head, his face cold, and loudly questioned:
"What? My brother's bones aren't even cold, and you maggots can't wait to scavenge from a family with no heirs!?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd from Search Team 1 erupted in an uproar.
Scavenging from a family with no heirs is a huge taboo, especially when pointing fingers at a hunting team captain.
Chang Sanheng's face immediately turned gloomy.
He glanced at Su Lin, who was standing beside Su Qi, wearing a new leather armor, carrying supplies, looking exhausted and disheveled.
Everyone in the village knew how lazy this guy was, yet he was out working today? Something must be up.
But if that something involved his own family...
Chang Sanheng's eyebrows furrowed deeply:
"I think there must be some misunderstanding! I know nothing about this. I will ask that unfilial son of mine to clarify things, and once confirmed, I will personally bring him to apologize."
"Heh." Upon hearing this, Su Qi merely let out a cold laugh, "You ask yours. I'll also tell my old man, let him see how his own grandson is being bullied!"
Chang Sanheng's eyebrows were tightly knit, remaining silent.
Su Qi adjusted the great sword on his back, then picked up his filled hands of supplies, and left with Su Lin, who had recovered some of his energy.
At that moment.
In the crowd, a young man about the same age as Su Lin saw him carrying bulging bags of supplies and his eyes darted back and forth.
He patted the shoulder of the person in front of him, whispered a few words, then left the group and ran towards Su Lin.
"Su Lin! Brother Lin!"
Upon hearing the call, Su Lin turned around and stared at the familiar face, finally pulling the name from his past memories.
"Hou Yong? Old Monkey?"
Old Monkey, wearing a ragged leather armor patched seven or eight times, got closer and noticed the sturdy and new leather armor on Su Lin. His eyes betrayed a hint of envy.
Su Lin was observing him and caught that hint of envy straight on.
Comparing it with his past memories, he immediately plastered a fake smile on his face.
Well, well! So it was you, this bastard, who kept encouraging my past self to sell grains for meat?
Damn, he even ate more than my past self!
Su Qi, who was walking in front, also stopped.
He turned around and saw Su Lin smiling at his former fair-weather friends, immediately furrowed his brow, feeling displeased.
Although Su Qi was from Search Team 2, in a village this small, he naturally recognized Hou Yong from Team 1, a young lazybones who avoided hardship and constantly shirked his duties, leaving a very poor impression.
In an instant, his briefly improved impression of Su Lin plummeted once more.
"Sigh, some things never change. Once the money is exchanged, I'm afraid this worthless nephew will go back to a life of debauchery with these fair-weather friends of his."